En Garde Arts is a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

with a focus on

site-specific theatre Site-specific theatre is a theatrical production that is performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre. This unique site may have been built without any intention of serving theatrical purposes (for example, a hot ...

. It was founded in 1985 by artistic director Anne Hamburger. Self-described as an artist-centric company, the company supports playwrights, directors, composers, and designers in creating new work from the ground up. En Garde's productions have earned six

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

s, two

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

s, the Special Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Edwin Booth Award.

En Garde Arts in the 1980s and 1990s

From 1985 to 1999, Hamburger commissioned playwrights, directors and composers to create theatrical pieces for architectural sites and neighborhoods. The roster of En Garde's alumni artists includes playwrights Charles L. Mee,

Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwright, author, and poet.Mac Wellman pape ...

María Irene Fornés María Irene Fornés (May 14, 1930 – October 30, 2018) was a Cuban-American playwright, theater director, and teacher who worked in off-Broadway and experimental theater venues in the last four decades of the twentieth century. Her plays range w ...

; composers

David Van Tieghem David Van Tieghem (born April 21, 1955) is an American composer, percussionist and sound designer, best known for his philosophy of utilizing any available object as a percussion instrument and for his collaborations with the experimental artists ...

Jonathan Larson Jonathan David Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American composer, lyricist and playwright, most famous for writing the musicals ''Rent (musical), Rent'' and ''Tick, Tick... Boom!'', which explored the social issues of mult ...

; directors

Michael Engler Michael Engler is an American director and television producer. Besides television, he has also worked on theatre and film. Theater His Broadway credits include '' Eastern Standard'', starring Dylan Baker, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Conroy, and ...

Tina Landau Tina Landau (born May 21, 1962) is an American playwright and theatre director. Known for her large-scale, musical, and ensemble-driven work, Landau's productions have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, most extensively at the ...

Anne Bogart Anne Bogart (born September 25, 1951) is an American theatre and opera director. She is currently one of the artistic directors of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a professor at Columbia Uni ...

Reza Abdoh Reza Abdoh (; also Romanized as "Rezā Abdoh", ) (February 23, 1963 – May 11, 1995) was an Iranian-born director and playwright known for large-scale, experimental theatrical productions, often staged in unusual spaces like warehouses and a ...

, Jim Simpson and

Bill Rauch Bill Rauch (born 1962) is an American theatre director. He was named the inaugural artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center (PACNYC) at the World Trade Center in 2018. The Perelman was the final piece of the plan to rev ...

; and actors

Carl Hancock Rux Carl Hancock Rux () is an American poet, playwright, singer-songwriter, novelist, essayist, as well as multidisciplinary performance installation artist. His work includes sound and image installation, photography, and performative lectures. He ...

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She did extensive work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as in film and television. In 2020, she was listed at No. 29 o ...

Fisher Stevens Stephen Fisher (born November 27, 1963), known professionally as Fisher Stevens, is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben Jahveri in ''Short Circuit'' (1986) and ''Short Circu ...

, Tyne Daly and

Jefferson Mays Lewis Jefferson Mays (born June 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obi ...

. Audiences followed their work to a variety of locations, including

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

, the

Meatpacking District The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. The Meatpacking Business Improvement District alo ...

, Penn Yards,

East River Park East River Park, also called John V. Lindsay East River Park, is public park located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, administered by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Bisected by the Williamsburg Bridge, it stretches ...

, Pier 25, the

Chelsea Hotel The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hot ...

, the Victory Theater (

New Victory Theatre The New Victory Theater is a theater at 209 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, near Times Square. Built in 1900 as the Republic Theatre (also Theatre Republic), it was designed by Albert Westover an ...

), and the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan. In 1989, En Garde produced a series of three plays at the Dairy,

Belvedere Castle Belvedere Castle is a folly in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It contains exhibit rooms, an observation deck, and since 1919 has housed Central Park’s official weather station. Belvedere Castle was designed by Calvert Vaux and Ja ...

and Bow Bridge in Central Park. Obie Awards for Best New American Play and Best Director were given to ''Bad Penny'' playwright

Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwright, author, and poet.Mac Wellman pape ...

and director Jim Simpson. The following year, Wellman's play ''Crowbar'' became the first legitimate theatrical production to be held in 42nd Street's Victory Theatre in 60 years. ''Crowbar'' was produced prior to 42nd Street's redevelopment, so a group of volunteers cleaned the interior to make way for Mac Wellman's new play. Directed by Richard Caliban with music by David Van Tieghem, ''Crowbar'' won Obie awards for En Garde Arts and actor

Elżbieta Czyżewska Elżbieta Justyna Czyżewska (May 14, 1938 – June 17, 2010) was a Polish actress active in both Poland and the United States. She began her career in Poland before moving to New York City in the 1960s. She gained critical acclaim in the ea ...

, and was granted a special award by the Outer Critics Circle. En Garde continued to produce work throughout the 1990s. Reza Abdoh and Mira-Lani Oglesby's work ''Father Was a Peculiar Man'' took place over nine distinct locations through the Meatpacking District. In an abandoned Victorian hospital on West 106th Street, Charles L. Mee's ''Another Person Is a Foreign Country'' confronted the social marginalization of unconventional people. Director Anne Bogart's cast included a blind choir with seeing-eye dogs, a group of emotionally disturbed rock musicians, and a man and woman, both 3’ tall, all staged against the Gothic, empty Towers Nursing Home (

New York Cancer Hospital The New York Cancer Hospital (NYCH) on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City was a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884. The building was located at 455 Central Park West between West 105th and 106th Streets, an ...

). In another piece, Hamburger used the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

as a backdrop for ''JP Morgan Saves the Nation'' by composer

Production history

Awards

Obie Awards The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

(6): ''Bad Penny'' (Best New American Play:

Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwright, author, and poet.Mac Wellman pape ...

) 1990; ''Bad Penny'' (Best Direction: Jim Simpson 1990; ''Crowbar'' (Performance: Elzbieta Czyzewska) 1990; En Garde Arts (Obie Grant) 1991; ''Orestes'' (Performance:

) 1994; ''The Trojan Women'' (Performance: Sharon Scruggs) 1997

Drama Desk Awards The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

(2): ''The Waste Land'' (Outstanding One Person Show, Unique Theatrical Experience) 1997

Outer Critics Circle Awards The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town news ...

(1): ''Crowbar'' (Special Award) 1989-90 Edwin Booth Award, 1995

References

En Garde Arts 2014 to present Official Websit

New York Times Review on Wildernes

New York Times Feature on Wildernes

Georgetowner Review on Wildernes

Village Voice Review on Wildernes

MD Theatre Guide Review on Wildernes

Theater Pizzazz Review on Wildernes

Metro Weekly Feature on Wildernes

Washington Post Feature on Wildernes

NBC Feature on Wildernes

New York Times Review on Basetrack Liv

New York Times Feature on Basetrack Liv

New York Times Feature on Basetrack Liv

The Daily Texan Review on Basetrack Liv

Daily Bruin Review on Basetrack Liv

Theater Mania Review on Basetrack Liv

Broadway World Feature on Basetrack Liv

BAM Feature on Basetrack Liv

American Theatre Feature on Basetrack Liv

En Garde Arts 1985 to 1999 Information from ''The New York Times'' online archives and the En Garde Arts archives.

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.engardearts.org/
En Garde Arts records, 1980-1999
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

Arts organizations based in New York City Theatre companies in New York City Arts organizations established in 1985 1985 establishments in New York City Theatre company production histories